The Blessed Sacrament in Procession

The procession of the Eucharist, the Consecrated Bread, the Body of Christ, has been a sacred Catholic devotion dating back to the earliest days of the church. Anytime, the consecrated bread, the Body of Christ, was brought to the home of one not able to join the community due to illness, a Eucharistic Procession occurred. Around the 11th century, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament became a common practice. On Saturday afternoon, under blue skies, we commenced our adoration across from the grotto of Our Lady. The Eucharist, that is the consecrated bread, the Body of Christ, is placed in a glass enclosure of a gold monstrance and carried throughout the grounds of the Lourdes, en route to the steps of the Rosary Basilica. The procession is lead by the deacons, priests, bishops, and cardinals with the Eucharist, carried by the celebrant, Archbishop Becciu, under a gold colored canopy. In the plaza in front of the Basilica were 10,000 maladies and members of the Order, with 1000 more ringing the upper walls of the church and looking down on the procession and the crowd.. The religious of the Order of Malta followed the canopy. The liturgy included gospel readings, prayers and hymns. Before placing the Eucharist back in the Basilica tabernacle, the monstrance is carried through out the assembly in the plaza. The pictures above from left to right show the procession, canopy to the right, the assembly in the plaza and the clergy on the steps of the Basilica. This Eucharistic Procession here in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes reminds us of Pope Benedict XVI's observation that upon learning that she is to be the mother of Jesus, Mary journeys to her cousin Elizabeth, from Nazareth to the Hill Country outside Jerusalem, The Visitation,, was first such Eucharistic Procession, as she carried our Incarnate Lord in Her Womb.